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Synonym Chooser

How is the word anxiety distinct from other similar nouns?

Some common synonyms of anxiety are care, concern, solicitude, and worry. While all these words mean "a troubled or engrossed state of mind or the thing that causes this," anxiety stresses anguished uncertainty or fear of misfortune or failure.

plagued by anxiety and self-doubt

Where would care be a reasonable alternative to anxiety?

The meanings of care and anxiety largely overlap; however, care implies oppression of the mind weighed down by responsibility or disquieted by apprehension.

a face worn by years of care

When would concern be a good substitute for anxiety?

The words concern and anxiety can be used in similar contexts, but concern implies a troubled state of mind because of personal interest, relation, or affection.

crimes caused concern in the neighborhood

When is it sensible to use solicitude instead of anxiety?

The synonyms solicitude and anxiety are sometimes interchangeable, but solicitude implies great concern and connotes either thoughtful or hovering attentiveness toward another.

acted with typical maternal solicitude

When might worry be a better fit than anxiety?

The words worry and anxiety are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, worry suggests fretting over matters that may or may not be real cause for anxiety.

financial worries

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of anxiety The anxiety never truly goes away, Alisha shares. Tabitha Parent, PEOPLE, 26 Sep. 2025 And on the top right are the inhibitory emotions — emotions like anxiety, shame and guilt; their job is to push down our core emotions, which are at the bottom of the triangle. CNN Money, 25 Sep. 2025 Lane said that pre-planning looks for special events helps to take the anxiety out of the equation. Fairchild Studio, Footwear News, 25 Sep. 2025 Advertisement Last week’s brazen Israeli airstrikes against Hamas negotiators in Doha turbocharged those anxieties. Firas Maksad, Time, 25 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for anxiety
Recent Examples of Synonyms for anxiety
Noun
  • For its part, the stock market has defied financial fears during recent government shutdowns.
    Max Zahn, ABC News, 30 Sep. 2025
  • For Jones, that means confronting her childhood fear of clowns.
    Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 29 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Nonetheless, Lloyd's production is handsomely realized, with striking silhouetttes courtesy of Jon Clark and unnerving sound design by Ben and Max Ringham, who add a low whirr of dread to the existential fable.
    Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Jon Clark’s no-place-to-hide lighting unnervingly brightens Beckett’s shadowy world but without losing its sense of dread, allowing both light and dark at the end of this infinite tunnel.
    Frank Rizzo, Variety, 29 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • What is the worry for governments and what is the worry for ordinary civilians?
    Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Sep. 2025
  • Fresh data revealed jobless claims far under expectations — suggesting layoffs remain limited and the labor market is holding firm despite Fed worries.
    Benzinga, Freep.com, 27 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • There was still no panic when, in March 2023, CRH — the world’s biggest building materials supplier — chose to switch to New York.
    Ian King, CNBC, 1 Oct. 2025
  • But the real success lies in making hydration a daily habit, not a panic-buying response.
    Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Powell said a sharp cooldown of hiring over the summer had shifted the balance of risks toward greater concern over the labor market rather than inflation.
    Max Zahn, ABC News, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Made in Africa is a monthly column by Rolling Stone staff writer Mankaprr Conteh that celebrates and interrogates the lives, concerns, and innovations of cultural workers of the African diaspora from their vantage point.
    Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 29 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Though when that context is Newcastle’s longer-term top-flight form, then a general feeling of unease is becoming justified.
    Chris Waugh, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Despite a growing sense of unease, museum leaders across the country have largely remained silent.
    Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 28 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Antifa is now a 'domestic terror group' Trump declared Antifa a domestic terror organization in a new White House Executive Order signed Monday evening.
    Richard Hall, Time, 27 Sep. 2025
  • He was charged with having a weapon at a public assembly or rally and going armed to the terror of people, both misdemeanors.
    Peter D'Abrosca, FOXNews.com, 27 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • As the decorations go up and the costumes come together, Indy-area neighborhoods, stages, historic sites and more are gearing up for their annual Halloween festivities and frights.
    Domenica Bongiovanni, IndyStar, 23 Sep. 2025
  • Many movies tried to recreate its magic mixture, including some of its own sequels, but few achieved the merry concoction of frights, gore, and giggles that Craven handled so masterfully.
    Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Anxiety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/anxiety. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.

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